Robin Bennett, human resources director, AmeriWound LLC

Leadership & Diversity (Finalist)

In four years at AmeriWound LLC, Robin Bennett has helped transform what was then a startup with a few founding employees into what the nomination calls a "diverse, professionally staffed and growing company operating in five states."

The company provides physician staffing for nursing home-based wound care. Bennett was responsible for establishing an HR system "along with initiaitves that assisted AmeriWound to move from its first lean months to seeing more than 60,000 patient visits nationally in 2016," the nomination stated.

AmeriWound's CEO and chief operating officer "consult directly with Robin on company strategy, which most recently included an initiative to increase full-time employment of recent graduates from residency/fellowship programs," chief financial officer Milton Leighliter wrote in the nomination.

"Nothing is more important than the culture of respect Robin has established at AmeriWound," he wrote. "In more than 35 years of professional employment, I have never personally worked in a company with a more diverse workforce at every level. AmeriWound office staff is a blend of urban, suburban and rural employees that have established a true community."

Leighliter added that AmeriWound "deploys a physician staff that includes many members of traditionally underrepresented groups in health care."

Staffing is particularly challenging for companies that serve nursing homes, the nomination noted, because patients there "are some of the most vulnerable in health care, and not every physician is the right candidate to provide care at the patient bedside."

Bennett "has developed an extensive credentialing framework to provide for the needs of AmeriWound's clients," according to the nomination. Under her leadership, AmeriWound "has been able to establish such a strong diverse workforce largely due to a hiring process that is based more on objective rather than subjective measures. This includes testing of employee skills for many positions, which puts the focus on the candidate's fit with the work needed."

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